_A.M. 2946. B.C. 1058._ David retires to Gath, 1 Samuel 27:1. Achish gives him Ziklag, 1 Samuel 27:5. David destroys the Canaanites, 1 Samuel 27:8; 1 Samuel 27:9. Persuades Achish he fought against Judah, 1 Samuel 27:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul_ David, says Delaney, “weary of wandering, weary of struggling with Saul's implacable spirit, weary of the unequal conflict between too dangerous generosity and too relentless malice, weary of subsisting by the spoils of his enemies, or bounty of his frien... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto Achish the son of Maoch_ “Most writers agree that this Achish, to whom David now fled, was not the Achish by whom he was so inhospitably received, and from whom he so narrowly escaped, when he was before at Gath. His being here called _Achish the son of Maoch_, sufficiently implies him to have... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let them give me a place_ This was a prudent request of David, who hereby intended to preserve his people, both from the vices to which conversation with the Philistines would have exposed them, and from that envy and malice which a different religion, and his appearing like a prince with so many m... [ Continue Reading ]
_Achish gave him Ziklag_ Not only that he might inhabit it for the present, but possess it as his own in future. This Achish did, either out of his royal bounty, or on condition of some service which David was to perform. Or perhaps he thought hereby to lay the greater obligations on David, whom he... [ Continue Reading ]
_David and his men invaded the Geshurites_, &c. These were some remains of the Amorites, and other ancient inhabitants of the country; whom God, for their inveterate and incorrigible wickedness, had commanded to be extirpated. And they “were not confederate with Achish, but in a state of hostility w... [ Continue Reading ]
_And left neither man nor woman alive_ In that part where he came; but there were many of the Amalekites yet left in another part of that land.... [ Continue Reading ]
_David said, Against the south of Judah_, &c. David expressed himself thus ambiguously that Achish might suppose he had assaulted the land of Judah; whereas he had only fallen upon those people who bordered on that land. His words, therefore, though not directly false, (all those people actually dwe... [ Continue Reading ]
_To bring tidings to Gath_ Our translation has here put in the word _tidings_, which entirely perverts the sense of this place. For in the Hebrew it is, he _saved neither man nor woman alive to bring to Gath;_ that is, he brought no prisoners thither; and the reason was, because it would then have a... [ Continue Reading ]